Star Wars is a franchise with a beloved history and rich lore. It has been adapted in various forms over the decades, including video games such as the Battelfront series and Rouge Squadron. There are multiple genres of Star Wars games including RPGs with the beloved Knights of the Old Republic, but one is missing. There is a distinct lack of Star Wars tournament fighting games., even if there have been games with a fighting modes, and Star Wars characters in the Soul Calibur series, but a fighting game has been lacking. The reason for this is well known and that is due to the failure of Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi .
Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi was a 3D fighting game for the original PlayStation featuring characters from the franchise, and received very negative reviews overall. It is widely regarded as the biggest misstep in the franchise in terms of video games and after looking at it, it is easy to see why there has been reluctance to make another fighting game. Bad controls, horrifically unbalanced and with a bad selection of characters, the game had everything going against it.
However, I feel that enough time has passed and we are in a different era now. There is a lot more care put into fighting games ( usually) and we know Star Wars character can work in a fighting game, as we saw with the guest appearances in the Soul Calibur series. With the right studio behind it, this could be an amazing game, and the game would not even need to be a 3D fighter, since 2D fighters are more popular than ever these days, and there are plenty of great western studios that could make a great 2/5D star wars game.
My choice would be someone like Iron Galaxy, due to their work on Killer Instinct. This game could take from the full extent of the Star Wars universe canon, and perhaps even the no longer canon expanded universe, and actually create a game that would be a worthy entry into the Star Wars library and serve as a great fighting game. Alternatively, Arc System Works would be able to create something truly amazing given their track record, and would no doubt delight many fans of the franchise and fighting games in general. Capcom’s Star Gladiators and Plasma Sword originally were supposed to be Star Wars fighting games, and the fact that they still have a following shows that Star Wars fighting games would have worked.
Given that Disney and Lucasfilm are more willing to license out Star Wars for gaming now, this is something that should be considered. The franchise deserves a second shot at the fighting genre,
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